Frozen Hearts, Frozen Minds
by alejeron
Summary: Will a Humanity that has struggled with the death of their sun survive the coming storm? Or will they succumb like so many others to their enemies? The Rachni Wars rage, and Humanity has entered the galactic stage with new ideas, and new ways to wage war.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So this is a DRASTICALLY different AU than in the games. Humanity gets to spaceflight much quicker, suffers from genetic degradation, and utilizes some interesting theories and ship-building technology due to those darned meddling Protheans. Just a quick note, humanity will be making contact with the Council as the Rachni wars are heating up, but before the Krogan Uplift. As with all AU stories, there will be a lot of canon changes, both to the planets, and to the timeline, obviously.**

Humanity always found the hard road. It wasn't that they _chose_ the hard road. No, it was misfortune that found humanity. But they strived. They fought and overcame their challenges, their own inner demons. And their external ones.

The sun is the source of life. It provides heat and energy. It symbolizes life itself. When Sol began to die, academics theorized on why it was happening. But it wasn't the why that the majority of humanity was focused. It was how to survive.

Gradually, the planet cooled. The humans, the Children of Gaia, dug deep. Tapping into the geothermal reserves of heat, they built massive underground cities that housed hundreds of thousands of people. Crammed into close quarters, tensions ran high. The governments of the day were overwhelmed with trying to keep the embers from flaring into an uncontainable inferno.

New sources of energy were created. Cold fusion allowed for the development of more efficient generators and cheap energy.

These discoveries came just as humanity needed them. The oceans had begun to freeze, with the majority of the surface being inhospitable. Genetic engineering was pursued feverishly, enabling humans to survive much lower temperatures than before.

But the side effects of such tampering nearly spelled the end of humanity. Almost complete sterilization resulted, plunging birthrates to unsustainable levels. Cloning or artificial wombs were needed.

Cloning was the procedure that expanded and saw the most success in the early months of what came to be known as the Twilight Years, one hundred years after the discovery of Sol's slow death.

Nearly two hundred years of barely surviving, with a diminishing population, cloning succeeded. With it came a new technology. Mind transference. Taking a copy of a human's mind and then implanting it in a newly grown clone. The dying race eagerly embraced this last chance at survival. Artificial growth was costly and slow, with cloning only marginally better. Genetic degradation from humanity's early forays had yet to be fixed, and the human lifespan was reduced to a mere sixty years.

With a mind transference and the slow cloning of the remaining population, humanity became a race of experts, able to learn lifetimes of knowledge with a simple mental procedure.

Two hundred and fifteen years after the learning of Sol's Death (SD is calendar shorthand), humanity enters the era of the Long Night. A census reveals that the human population had finally reversed its terminal decline, with a stable population of 110 million souls. Nearly 36 million were clones.

The Long Night was coined because Earth's rotation had slowed to an imperceptible crawl, leading to nights on the surface that lasted for weeks. Even with its genetic enhancements and suits, the surface was a no-go zone for any exposure outside of a sealed vehicle.

The remaining governments, reduced to the leaders of a variety of city-states, agreed to a meeting after the two hundred and fiftieth year SD. The result of the meeting, dubbed the White-Black Concordat because of the colors of the environmental suits worn, was a return to space exploration. It was additionally decided that the governments would form a coalition, called the Aeterna Glacies Foedus, (Latin for League of Eternal Ice) or AGF for short.

Five years after the meeting, the joint effort of the AGF member city-states launched the first of the _Aegis_ Explorator-class vessels to investigate the planet of Mars, and to test the new

drive systems relying on cold fusion reactors for power.

Anomalous readings from the south pole prompted the vessel's crew to take a close look. The discovery of alien ruins electrified the human community. A massive build up of vessels to carry researchers and scientists to salvage the data banks of the ruins before the extreme cold possibly damaged the systems.

It took nearly a year for the ruins to be completely salvaged. The knowledge gained was startlingly, to say the least. In the records, it was discovered that the species was known as Protheans, and that they had been studying humanity and trying to shape their development before being mysteriously wiped out.

It wasn't just the sociologists and biologists that discovered a windfall on the planet though. The engineers recovered a derelict vessel utilizing an unknown element to attain what was theorized to enable FTL travel. The element, lacking a predicted place on the Periodic Table, was quickly dubbed 'Element Zero', and work was started on synthesizing the element to develop drive cores for their own ships.

The AGF, pessimistically adopting the stance that the Protheans were wiped out by a hostile race, began drawing up plans for a space navy. Working within the limitations of the small population and slow growth of the clone labs, the newly formed Space Commission put together blueprints relying on the creation of superior quality, rather than quantity.

The first warship class was the _Reaper-_ Class Dreadnought. The original design called for a length of nearly three kilometers, but with the realization of the power cost in the drive core, the design was downgraded to one kilometers, at least until orbital facilities could be constructed.

The vessel was armed with seven rotating turrets on the 'top', with three mass-accelerator cannons mounted to each turret, the ship resembled the old battleships of the 20th century, right down to the citadel in the middle of the vessel. Three of the top turrets were mounted in a 'stepped' formation, with a fourth turret mounted at the bow of the vessel. The last three turrets mounted a similar configuration, minus the bow mounted turret. The 'bottom' of the vessel had two three-gun turrets, one bow and one stern-mounted. Along the sides of the hull were smaller gun and flak emplacements for the relatively close range fighting that could occur in needing to fend off frigates and fighters. The hull itself was made of a novel discovery by one of the engineers working on Element Zero. One of the after-products of cold fusion was a previously unusable material. However, when alloyed and forged with Element Zero, the result was an incredibly durable metal that was also nearly weightless, making it perfect for the in-atmo construction of the ships and future orbital docks.

The other designs followed traditional wet-navy doctrine. Carriers were planned to be introduced with drones, destroyers armed with torpedoes, and cruisers for support roles as anti aircraft, electronic warfare, and command-and-control duties.

With the feverish construction of the orbital docks, coupled with the equally breakneck pace of reverse engineering the Prothean ship, humanity finally had a chance to escape their once inevitable fate. Within the vast amounts of data being translated, the location of Charon, an ice moon, was found. The discovery was initially disregarded, until a graduate student realized that there were no other mentions of any coordinates matching one of the many moons in the solar system.

The original vessel that had found the Prothean Ruins, the _Aracadia,_ was dispatched to Charon, to investigate once again.

What was found changed future colonization and construction plans.

The moon, it turned out, was not a moon, but instead a mass relay, briefly mentioned in the logs of the Prothean base.

The _Aracadia_ was given permission to go through the relay for a brief scouting mission. The relay flung the ship far enough to leave the sensor arrays of the AGF. When the ship returned, it was reported that they had reached a nexus of relays in the space between systems. There were five others, leading to other, unknown destinations.

The newly christened _Formidable_ dreadnought with an escort of first generation Explorator-class vessels, hastily retrofitted with mass accelerator cannons left the earth-side docks and made its way to what was soon termed the Arcturus Crossroads.

Soon after the departure of the _Formidable,_ the AGF decided on an even more ambitious undertaking. A large battle-station would be constructed at the nexus, protecting the highway into the heart of humanity. Although the plans for the station were approved, priority was given to creating the orbital docks necessary to build and support the fleet of ships necessary to build and maintain the large station.

It was in the this unprecedented expansion of human ambitions that a breakthrough in cloning was made. By using Element Zero generators, the cost and time in 'breeding' new clone bodies was drastically reduced. Humanity's growth rate, a steady 1.2%, suddenly jumped to 5%, with scientists confidently predicting that the rate could be doubled if further room and resources could be allocated to their efforts.

270 SD was an auspicious year for the AGF. The successful deployment of the orbital facilities accelerated the construction of the fledgling human fleet. Within five years, the number of deployed _Reaper-_ class dreadnoughts had reached five, including the _Formidable,_ three of which were constructed in-atmosphere, with an escorting contingent of eight cruisers, one carrier, and eleven destroyers. Further raising the hopes of the military was a breakthrough in Element Zero synthesization. With a clear lack of the material in the solar system, the development of the fleet relied on fusion power and the small store of the element that the base on Mars had held.

The AGF, confident that their military power was sufficient to deal with most possible threats, and the knowledge that Earth was likely well hidden, ordered that one of the relays to be opened and to begin exploring the other side.

The _Formidable_ and her escorts passed through what was dubbed Relay One, being the first humans to enter another solar system.

After nearly three hundred years on a planet whose sole identifying quality was its cold, humanity was pleased to find a terrestrial planet whose surface temperature was negative thirty degrees Fahrenheit in the daytime. To them, it was a tropical summer retreat. Within the system was found another relay that was inactive, similar to the others that resided at the Arcturus Crossroad.

The decision was made to begin harvesting the rich asteroid belt in the newly named Utopia System. In order to support mining operations, a colony was established on what was ironically termed Eden Prime.

The Explorator-class vessels once again proved their worth as incredibly flexible and modular ships. The ships operated in whatever capacity was needed. Freighters, mining vessels, gunboats and patrol ships, and the ubiquitous science/research vessels were the most common of the modifications. The ships were even more easily constructed with the new orbital facilities above Earth.

Humanity left behind the Long Night, and entered into the New Dawn.

Mankind slowly expanded, only opening another two of the five total Arcturus relays. In one of the systems, they found a garden world, but its atmosphere was methane-based, making it far too hot for humans to settle, although they did conduct extensive strip mining of some rare earth minerals where they were found, unconcerned with wrecking the biosphere.

The other system was more interesting for humanity. An asteroid belt was originally flagged for more extensive scanning when the exploring fleet discovered an anomalous gravity reading from one of the larger asteroids. Further investigation revealed naturally occurring deposits of Element Zero. The strategic value of the system was immediately apparent, and the Third Fleet was put on permanent station keeping while several mining corporations were ordered by the government to begin extraction and refinement of the element.

The synthesis of the material was extraordinarily slow. With increased strategic reserves, the fleet could finally begin an all-out expansion of vessels, and afford the increased power costs of the planned upgrades.

The _Formidable_ would receive the most attention in the fleet retrofit. The Dreadnought with the longest service record, the ship saw an extension of its hull, stretching the length to 1.3 kilometers, adding another three turrets, one on the stern of the vessel, the other two being placed on the 'bottom'. The increased drive core size enabled greater speed of its FTL, and the heatsinks of the venerable ship were improved, enabling a much longer engagement time. The old flak guns were replaced with the GARDIAN system, a grid of networked lasers that could quickly target and shoot down fighters. With the extensive research into Element Zero, kinetic barriers were developed and the first iterations were placed on the _Formidable._ The ship also saw numerous over improvements, including a small manned-fighter complement of five craft.

The rest of the fleet saw similar improvements, with the focus being on improving the speed and striking power of the ships. The destroyers were equipped with the experimental new disruptor torpedoes, which utilized small mass effect cores to tear space around their targets. The weapons were fairly ineffective against the alloyed hulls of the human fleet, so they were designed mainly to overwhelm fighter and bomber craft, whose armor was insufficient to resist the powerful forces unleashed by the torpedoes.

The _Formidable_ 's escorting contingent was designated as the First Fleet. Their headquarters was formally assigned as Arcturus Battlestation, whose completion was arranged to be finished at the same time as the First Fleet's retrofitting. Making a lavish spectacle of how far the AGF had brought humanity, as well as the 50th anniversary of the founding of the AGF, the First Fleet's commander was officially appointed to the position. Steven Hackett was promoted to the rank of First Admiral, giving him seniority of all the other fleet admirals.

The commissioning of the Arcturus Battlestation and the formal creation of the First Fleet was a major milestone in humanity's expansion into space. The Battlestation was widely considered to be indestructible, with more firepower than the entirety of the human fleet put together, and with thicker armor.

It was perhaps auspicious that a year later, first contact was made.

 **A/N: I hope this wasn't TOO boring to read. But I felt it necessary. I may have to resort to this formula in the future, so please let me know what you think, where I can improve in my exposition dumps. The next chapter should be posted shortly. I am trying to write these ahead of time so that way I am less likely to abandon this without getting pretty far with the story.**

 **For a visual of what the** _ **Formidable**_ **looks like, just think of a battleship like the** _ **Yamato**_ **except much bigger, more rounded, and with guns mounted on the bottom.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Just a quick note, distances are in kilometers, so 100k is 100,000 kilometers, etc. This is also where the meat of the story gets going. Let me know what you think, and please, notify me of any spelling/ grammar issues. The Council timeline on the wiki surprised me a bit because apparently the turians were practically the last to join the Citadel, as the batarians, elcor, hanar, quarians, and volus were all granted embassies before the Rachni wars even started. I can't really decide on whether to change that, or just make Humanity join before the other races do. I guess read on and find out?**

 **Another quick thing: you know the Titanfall Assault class for the IMC? That is basically what the uniforms of both the ground and naval forces look like. This is due to the fact that ship temperatures are kept at -45F, and the temperature rises rapidly during combat, meaning that they need environmental suits in order to stay alive.**

Admiral Hackett sat in his chair, contemplating its throne-like dimensions. There certainly were a lot more buttons since the retrofit.

Hackett was a seventh generation clone, with the memories of nearly fifty years in the navy behind him. He had commanded the _Formidable_ for her whole life and knew her capabilities well.

As an Admiral, he had access to any age of clone he wanted, but he always preferred the older, grizzled look, as it tended to inspire a little more respect, even if he had to replace it more often.

"XO, what's the status of the _Xerxes_?"

The _Xerxes_ was almost as old as the _Formidable_ , and it had given Hackett no end of headaches in the decade that it had been under his command. Some kind of imperfection in the eezo had left it with chronic engine troubles. The engineers had decided in the refit to completely tear out the old core and install a new one.

"Captain Reynolds reports that she is good to go. The last techs have left and she will be rejoining the fleet in two hours, as soon as she finishes taking on supplies." Hackett's Executive Officer, John Presly, had served on the _Formidable_ for as long as Hackett. In fact, many of the crew had been with the ship all her life.

 _The wonders of mind transference,_ Hackett thought to himself.

"Where do you think Command is gonna send us? Victory tour of the colonies?"

Hackett snorted. "Yes, all two of our colonies will be suitably impressed. Might take us a day in total with these new engines."

The two men chuckled at the thought.

"Admiral, incoming transmission from the station. It is Fleet Command."

"Put it through."

The image of Grand Admiral Sara Josefin, a youngish looking woman whose blonde hair had yet to have the streaks of grey appear yet, appeared on the hologram screen above the left arm of his chair. Not that appearances told you anything about a person's age anymore.

"Hackett, orders came in from the AGF. You're gonna like this." A broad smile creased her face.

"Admiral, always good to see you."

"AGF has just ordered Relay Four to be opened. The First Fleet will be leading the way."

"And here I was under the impression we had been reconstituted as a war fleet, not an exploration one." Hackett replied mildly, a hint of humor in his voice.

Josefin's smile only widened. "That's not all. The reason it is Relay Four is because of what the sensors on the Arcturus found."

Hackett waited for Josefin to elaborate, but the silence dragged on. "And? What did the sensors find?"

"Energy discharges, concurrent with a large increase in heat, followed by a gradual reduction in it."

Hackett and Presly both realized what it likely meant.

"You mean to say that some ships came through a relay, and then began discharging heat

buildup." Presly guessed.

"Got it in one, gentlemen. We may have found some honest-to-gods aliens."

"And if they have to discharge heat, then they were either traveling at FTL for a while, or they were in combat. Either way, we have the advantage since it will take several hours to discharge their heat. Only problem is, the _Xerxes_ is just coming out of drydock, and I have two cruisers debugging some computer systems. I want to be at full strength if these are aliens." Hackett explained.

"Their systems will be mostly shut down. Besides, there is a good chance this is just some kind of anomaly on the sensors. You should be fine with what you've got. Just to be safe, I am recalling the 2nd Fleet to Arcturus from drydock. Backup will be behind you in an hour after you leave."

"Acknowledged, Admiral. Hackett out."

"Good luck, Hackett, Presly. I'll buy you a round when you get back."

The hologram disappeared, leaving Hackett and Presly staring forward at the main

viewscreen.

"Helm, prepare the engines and set a course for Relay Four. Comms, order the fleet to prepare for mass relay transit and put me through to the Fleet."

Hackett took a deep breath as he prepared his thoughts.

"Men and women of the First Fleet, today is a day for history to remember. We will be the first to go through Relay Four. This time will be different from the others however. Fleet Command has reason to believe that unidentified vessels have entered the system and are discharging their heat sinks. I shouldn't have to tell you what this means. We are likely to make first contact with a possibly hostile alien species. I know all of you will do your duty. Admiral Hackett out."

As the First Fleet began to move away from Arcturus Station, everyone knew that history was likely to be made.

"All hands to battlestations. Beat to Quarters."

Captain T'lenna of the Asari Republic Cruiser _Cibane_ was not having a particularly good day. The Rachni had ambushed the fleet she had been attached to, killing the admiral in charge, and leaving her in command of a half dozen vessels, with most barely able to hold together.

Luckily, while fleeing from the battle, they had come across an active Relay. Hoping that the Rachni were not pursuing, T'lenna had ordered the fleet to enter the relay, and with some luck they could find a planet to discharge their heat sinks and prepare for the long flight home.

Being cautious, T'lenna only had two ships discharge their cores at a time, keeping the rest active to watch for the Rachni.

It was this cautious that enabled the _Cibane_ 's sensors to detect the sudden power spike of a relay activating.

"Captain, there is a second relay in the system! Scanners indicate it is powering up, something is coming through!" Her sensor, a maiden new to the job after her predecessor died in the battle, cried out.

"Goddess…" T'lenna slumped in her chair, knowing that she would likely have to abandon two of her ships if they proved to be Rachni.

"Unidentified vessels are emerging from the relay. No match in the database. They don't match any known signatures!"

 _First Contact. Great._ She thought to herself. _The only way this could get worse was if they proved to be hostile._

"Sensors, can you get me a visual?"

The powerful telescopes turned about, focusing on the distant light of the Mass Relay, and soon an image came through.

To say that T'lenna was worried would be an understatement.

The fleet shown was definitely alien, and it was most assuredly packing a lot of firepower. The hulls of the vessels had a bluish sheen that reminded T'lenna of the Citadel and the Mass Relays. The guns were impressive but strangely arrayed. Instead of the spinal mass accelerator, these aliens had seemingly gone with quantity of guns over power. The multiple batteries were arrayed in groups of three, with lots of little guns spread over the hull. There were two of the massive behemoths, obviously battleships, while the others appeared to be the size of cruisers and frigates, but they looked like downsized versions of the battleships. In total, T'lenna was looking at twenty-two ships, any one of which could give her damaged fleet a lot of trouble.

"How soon until our ships are ready to leave?"

"Thirty minutes until the heat sinks are finished."

"Hail that fleet. If they're hostile, maybe we can delay them. If not, we may have some powerful new friends."

Her communications officer immediately set to work trying to hail the fleet. T'lenna just hoped that they would be willing to talk.

"Admiral, fleet has completed the jump." The Helmsman, Gregory Jerves, reported.

"Sensors, what have you got for me?" Hackett demanded, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, studying the fleet deployment on the holoboard.

"Six contacts, cruiser weight. They are definitely alien, Admiral. They appear to mount a single spinal MAC. Confirmed eezo emissions. Two of the vessels are venting heat, the other four are in a defensive position. Battle damage has hit them hard, sir."

"Hmmm, move us to an interdiction position near that other relay. 100k distance, move the destroyers to that asteroid field, near the planet that they discharging their drive cores in. Send three of the cruisers as escorts. Battleships will move to the fore of the formation, and present broadsides. Carrier will remain at the back, four cruisers as escort." Hackett ordered the force disposition quickly and efficiently, watching as the ship positions on the holoboard in the middle of the bridge changed.

The comms tech spoke up next. "Sir, receiving broadband transmission, it's in the clear and appears to be coming from the alien vessels. Possible data package."

"Admiral, it would appear this is likely some kind of first contact package." Presly spoke up from his position to Hackett's side.

"I agree. Shunt the package to a non-networked computer and try and find me a translation matrix."

Several minutes passed as the ships maneuvered into position. The alien cruisers didn't move, seemingly realizing that they were outnumbered and outgunned.

"Sir, I believe I have a rudimentary translation matrix set up. They sent some software that is pretty advanced. All I had to do was feed some pictures and text into it." The comms tech spoke up.

"Good work. We should be close enough for a tightbeam communication. Keep to audio."

Hackett, paused realizing that he would be the first human that an alien would hear.

"Sensors, what are they doing?" T'lenna demanded, her nerves wracked by the silence from the aliens.

"Part of their fleet broke off. The frigates and the three of the cruisers moved into the asteroid field and have deployed some kind of ECM. They are about 50k from our position. The rest of their fleet and have moved about 100k from the relay that we came through. Their battleships have taken up lead positions. If we try to break for the relay they will be all over us."

T'lenna hated waiting, not knowing what the aliens were going to do next.

Finally, after several minutes of agonized waiting, the aliens responded.

"Attention unidentified cruiser. This is Admiral Hackett of the First Fleet. You have entered AGF territory. State your intentions. If you prove to hostile, you will be fired upon."

The voice was gravelly, and far more masculine than an asari, or a salarian. It spoke with the deadpan tones and odd accent of a translator. Definitely alien.

T'lenna's hopes plummeted with the message. It would seem that they definitely didn't like interlopers in their territory. Although, why would the relay be inactive if they claimed this as their territory?

"Send a return message, as follows. This is Captain T'lenna of the Asari Republics Cruiser _Cibane_. We were fleeing a battle with an alien species called the Rachni. We hoped to discharge our drive cores and make some emergency repairs. We didn't realize this space was occupied. We can leave as soon my vessels have finished discharging their cores."

"Message sent, Captain."

"Now we wait."

T'lenna didn't have to wait very long, as a return message was sent back quickly.

"Asari cruiser _Cibane,_ you are authorized to make repairs and discharge your drive cores. The First Fleet will remain on station as a deterrent."

T'lenna's almost collapsed with relief, before catching herself. Wouldn't do to show weakness in front of the crew.

"Send an acknowledgement, and a thank you. Keep to the schedule of discharging."

The Grand Admiral's face was back on Hackett's viewscreen.

"So, First Contact was successful?"

"Seems so. They were friendly enough. Scans show they took some major damage which likely explains why they so… non- confrontational." Hackett explained, fiddling with the straps on his armor.

" Lucky break for you then. Command wants you to be on station keeping until the aliens bug out. We should have the situation on Earth under control, and the AGF will have time to put together a response about these confirmed aliens before they decide to come sniffing around with a bigger fleet. Unless they really want peace."

"They mentioned another alien species they are at war with. My gut tells it isn't going well for them."

"Do you think these other aliens might track the… asari here?" Josefin asked, glancing down at an off-screen report.

"Maybe. Could be that they got bloodied and decided six cruisers weren't worth it."

"Damn it, Hackett. You just jinxed us for sure." Presly spoke up from his normal position to Hackett's right.

Hackett and Josefin chuckled at Presly's superstitious nature.

"Murphy's Law, Admiral. Anything could happen."

T'lenna was happy that the aliens had proven to be, at the very least, not inclined to unjustified violence. However, she found herself frustrated by their silence. If they felt able to commit twenty-three ships just to shoo off a half dozen cruisers, they could probably tip the balance of the war in the Council's favor.

It was with some minor apprehension that she watched the activation of the other relay. However, it appeared that it was three vessels. One of them was of the frigate type, while the other two were those cruiser analogs. The frigate simply moved to the asteroid field where the other vessels had disappeared into that field of ECM. To keep up such a powerful sensor blind had to require an immense amount of power.

The two cruisers had joined the main force, where the two battleships kept their broadsides pointed towards the asari cruisers.

After spending nearly three hours in the system, all the ships reported that their drives and heat sinks were clear. T'lenna was about to give the order to leave, when the relay that they came through lit up with energy.

The asari Matron knew that the vessels coming through were not going to be friendly.

A few seconds later, T'lenna was proven right as the flowing, organic lines of the dusty brown Rachni vessels dropped out of relay travel.

"Crap."

"I told you Hackett. Murphy is laughing in his grave right now."

"Order the fleet to begin new targeting solutions. I want those ships painted and identified." Hackett ordered briskly.

"Sir, the vessels do not match the asari. It is likely that these are the aliens that were fighting them." The sensor tech reported, his fingers flying over his console.

"Admiral, the new contacts are splitting. About thirty-four are heading towards our position. Sixteen are heading at full speed towards the asari cruisers."

"Hail the lead ship, the large in the center of the formation. Order them to cease their movement or be fired upon."

The comms officer tried hailing several times before giving up.

"No response sir."

"Vessels are continuing their approach. Rachni are engaging the asari cruisers."

Hackett debated getting involved, before the choice was conveniently removed from his consideration.

"Sir, contacts have opened fire."

"Return fire, all batteries. Order Battlegroup Beta to begin the attack and move to assist the asari cruisers."

Hackett leaned back in his command chair, feeling the vibrations from the main guns as they opened fire. It was the first time that the _Formidable_ fired her guns in battle. Hackett had a feeling it wouldn't be the last.

He watched the viewscreen as the bluish projectiles hurtled through space, passing by the Rachni projectiles.

"All hands, brace for impact."

The shots smashed into the kinetic barriers. The shields flared their distinctive blue color as they repelled the projectiles.

The Rachni vessels didn't fare as well. It seemed that the placement of the spinal cannons allowed for greater accuracy, but it didn't account for volume of fire. The 30 guns on each of the dreadnoughts filled the space with their firepower. Together, their fire outnumbered that of the entire Rachni fleet.

With the mass lightened by the use of Element Zero, and powered by the cold fusion reactors, the shots fired by the _Formidable_ and its sister-ship, the _Vengeance_ , had the kinetic striking power of nearly 100 kilotons, compared to the typical 38 kilotons fired by most of the dreadnoughts of the Citadel Council fleets.

But the dreadnoughts weren't the only vessels on the human side of the fight. Seven cruisers also added their less powerful, but faster firing guns to the equation. The Rachni fleet, reacted to the unexpected firepower far too slowly.

Assuming that the turrets were not as powerful as the spinal cannons, the ships did not move bother evading, thinking that their shields could take the blow.

Many of the human gunners found their targets in the enemy fleet. The cruisers spread out, joined by the fighter squadrons from the carrier, flanking the Rachni fleet and forcing the ships to congregate.

The battle was a slaughter, with only one human ship being left dead in the water after the brief, but intense five minute engagement.

"Rachni ships have engaged the aliens, Captain!"

T'lenna was sure that there was some higher being out there, simply for the fact that there

was no way she could have gotten as many lucky breaks as she had.

But there were still sixteen ships heading straight towards her ragtag fleet.

She knew that there was no way that her cruisers, even if they were fully repaired, could hope to defeat the ships, much less survive until the aliens finished off the fleet heading towards them. If they could win.

She forgot about the aliens in the asteroid field until two of the Rachni ships blew up with no warning.

At that point, several shots from the insectoid vessels hit the _Cibane,_ overwhelming the already taxed shield generators. T'lenna's head struck a console, and she blacked out.

"All fifty of the Rachni vessels were destroyed. However, all but one of the asari cruisers were destroyed. The last one is badly crippled. The _Dauntless_ is taking survivors off it right now. However, the species appears to require rather warm temperatures so the captain closed off one of the medbays and heated it up. It is interfering with our attempts at triage, but there is at least one medic among the asari crew, so they should survive if we can provide the supplies." Presly finished his report, looking up at Hackett and the holo of Josefine.

"Well, looks like Presly was right about Murphy, Hackett." Josefine said ruefully, shaking her head.

"Don't remind me. He'll be insufferable for weeks."

Josefine sighed, running a hand through her hair. "This is a fine pickle. The situation on

Earth is still… fluid. AGF hasn't decided how to proceed yet. So, for now, see if you can repair that cruiser, and keep the crew alive. We may be able to score some points with their government for this, get some good deals."

"The cruiser won't be a problem. It's drive core is overloading. The _Dauntless_ reports that the evacuation is complete. They are moving away now." Presly reported, as he was handed another dataslate from one of the bridge crew.

"Okay, hold position. I am sending the Second Fleet through. Fitz will be under your command, make sure nobody comes through that relay, Hackett. I am gonna get some concrete orders. Josefin out."

The holo winked out, and Hackett was left to stare moodily out at the wreckage before him.

"Jensen, order the _Arrow, Hart,_ and _Hound_ , to being trawling the debris field. See if there is any eezo to salvage. Or tech."

"Right away, sir." The comms tech answered.

"Presly, keep my posted on the condition of our guests. I'm grabbing some shuteye. XO Presly has the deck."

"Aye, aye sir!" The bridge crew shouted.

The first thing that T'lenna noticed when she woke up was the white ceiling. _Why did Melay repaint the med bay?_ she thought to herself.

Suddenly, a visored face came into view, garbed in what she assumed was a biohazard suit.

The asari captain then remembered the last few moments, the tortured scream of metal as the rounds penetrated the armor. She remembered the console rushing up to meet her head. _So the ship must have gone down, but these aliens rescued us. Guess they aren't that bad. Or they want answers on why they got attacked._

The hooded face, she couldn't make the features, spoke with the monotone of a translator. "How do you feel?"

"I have a killer headache, but other than that, I'm about as well as can be expected." T'lenna responded, not even bothering to sit up, knowing that the alien was likely to just push her down again.

The alien chuckled. It sounded remarkably asari-like. "I have been a doctor for many lifetimes and in my experience, most soldiers tend to insist that there is nothing wrong with them, that they are fit to return to duty. You seem to have far more experience than some of your comrades."

"I am nearly 400 years old." T'lenna admitted.

She could sense a slight bit of surprise as the translator converted the galactic standard to whatever their equivalent time was.

"Impressive. Our bodies degrade by the time we reach sixty years. Perhaps you could share your technology with us."

"Technology? It is natural biology for us." T'lenna immediately filed away this information. Something was a bit off with his mention of lifetimes, and focusing on the 'body'. Why not merely say that they die by age sixty?

"Ah, of course. We have, in the past, dabbled in life extension. I thought that your species are merely managed to greatly extend. Anyway, I don't see anything that isn't already on the mend. I must advise you to avoid headbutting anything. And avoid anything too stressful for a week or so."

T'lenna noted the change of topic, but didn't press the doctor on it.

"Where is the rest of my crew? Am I confined to this room?"

"To your first question, the remainder of your crew is within this room. It is a medbay on the _Dauntless_. The captain risked a lot to save your crew. However, the rest of your fleet was destroyed before the battlegroup could fully engage. We have recovered as many of the bodies as we could. We are keeping them in our morgue. To your second question, the rest of this ship is incompatible to your species without sealed atmosphere gear. Even then, it is likely to be fatal in the long term."

"Incompatible? How so?"

"Our species requires temperatures to around -45F in order to survive. Any temperature above -20F can be fatal in the long term."

 _Impossible,_ T'lenna thought to herself. It had been awhile since she took biology, but the chances of a species developing to sentience in temperatures that extreme was… unlikely to say the least.

"May I speak with your captain? I would like to contact my government, let them know about our situation."

The doctor began to move away, before stopping and turning around. "I will inform him of your wishes."

T'lenna left her cubicle, checking in with her surviving crew. A mere thirty-four asari survived the destruction of _Cibane_. A remnant of a remnant. Her first fleet command, and she lost all of her ships.

 _But maybe I gained the Council powerful allies,_ a voice argued in her head.

 _Maybe,_ another voice whispered back.

Those words stuck with her as she awaited the return of the doctor.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Wow, was not expecting that big of a response in such a short time. In fact, I had to figure out how to turn off my email alerts so I could actually go to bed.**

"Councilor Tellan, we may have a problem. Slight one." The salarian spoke with his species characteristic speed as he clutched a datapad tightly.

The salarian councilor sighed, looking up from his meal to look at his aide. Upon spotting the datapad, the councilor gestured for the pad to be handed over.

"Summarize." he ordered peremptorily.

"Sixth Fleet of the Asari Republics has failed to report in for six solar cycles. Implications worrisome. No known rachni fleets are operating in the area, if they have expanded to the Exodus cluster… implications worrisome."

Tellan sighed again. "Why haven't the asari been informed?"

"They have. Councilor dismissed any concern, blaming malfunction of equipment."

Tellan tossed the pad on the table in disgust. "Asari are blind. Can't they see what is in front of them? No fleet's communications would simultaneously fail! Send an STG frigate to assess the region they were operating in."

"Right away, sir." The salarian aide scurried out of the room.

Tellan turned back to his meal, only to realize that it was cold. He sighed.

This rachni war was not good for his health.

"Admiral Hackett. It is good to see you well, sir." The captain of the _Dauntless_ , Michael Yew, had materialized on Hackett's viewscreen.

"How are our guests doing, captain?" Hackett asked, skipping the pleasantries. With the arrival of the Second Fleet, he had too many duties to see to for such frivolities.

"Well enough, sir. As shown in the first contact package they sent, the species is remarkably similar to ours. Look like the spitting image of a woman. They are, however, a bit… confined, given that they are used to make warmer temperatures. So far, environmental controls are holding up well. Have you considered my request, sir?"

Hackett looked down at the dataslate in his hand. "You want to scavenge some of their hardsuits from the wreckage?"

"Yessir. I feel like we could earn some trust if we can _show_ them that the medbay is really the only habitable place for them right now."

"Very well. I shall inform the _Hart_ to recover a few suits. If there aren't any usable ones, it may be possible to adapt some ours."

"Thank you sir. One other item…"

"What is it, captain? I have a lot of matters to attend to."

"The asari commander has requested a meeting with me. Ummm… not sure how to address them… guess the 'she' pronoun works well enough. Anyway, the doctor who passed the request on said she wants to contact her commanders. Arrange a pickup."

"I'm afraid I can't budge on this one just yet, captain. AGF is going out of their minds with this. The Grand Admiral has informed me that Earth is still a cauldron right now. She has indicated that it is likely they might dispatch a diplomat soon. Until then, this system is on lockdown." Hackett spoke in a tone that brooked no argument.

"Yessir. Thank you for listening, Admiral. _Dauntless_ out."

Hackett closed the connection before returning to his paperwork.

Yew would get the job done. His was the riskiest position in the fleet right now.

It wasn't until the third system they visited that the salarian STG frigate _Eye of Gerle_ found the remains of the asari Sixth Fleet. It took almost a full day before the remains were catalogued. It was another seven hours before they realized that six cruisers had managed to avoid destruction.

Shortly thereafter, the frigate found the unmapped relay that the asari fleet had fled through.

"Admiral, coded transmission burst from Arcturus Station. We have a diplomat enroute in the _Aracadia_." The voice of the sensors tech came in over the intercom.

"I'll be right up."

When he arrived on the bridge, Presly immediately approached him.

"They're sending a diplomat on the _Aracadia_?" He asked, disbelief evident.

"The AGF likes their little symbols, Presly. The fact that it is a bucket of bolts held together by prayers and duct tape likely didn't factor into their decision." Hackett sighed, sitting in his command chair.

"It's not like the aliens will appreciate the gesture."

Hackett interrupted Presly before he could continue his complaints. "Inform the _Dauntless_ that a diplomat is enroute. How many of the hardsuits has the _Hart_ recovered?"

"Three, sir. They have already been transferred to the _Dauntless."_

"Good. Once the diplomat has arrived, we will transfer the asari captain to the conference room. Make sure the diplomat is there before the asari." Hackett ordered the comms tech.

"Yessir."

T'lenna was surprised when the doctor and what she assumed were two guards by their uniforms and shouldered weapons showed up in the medbay, carrying crates that she instantly recognized.

"The Admiral agreed to your meeting. You'll need these suits I believe," the doctor paused as his two companions dropped the crates on the floor, "These are rated for cold temperatures, yes?"

T'lenna nodded. "Yes, they should even provide protection for vacuum."

"Good. There are three suits. Once you and any companions you choose are ready, these fine, young marines will escort you to the shuttle."

With that last bit of information, the doctor left the medbay, leaving the two heavily armed 'marines' behind.

 _Well,_ she thought, _it is hardly a diplomat's dress, but it beats freezing to death._

The AGF-appointed diplomat arrived in as grand a fashion as could be managed between a cramped military dreadnought and an ancient exploration vessel that had been retrofitted many times over its illustrious career in spearheading human advances into space.

The fighters had been cleared out of the _Formidable_ 's docking bay to allow for the ambassador's arrival on one of the shuttles. After the formalities were seen to, the diplomat was greeted by Admiral Hackett and his executive officer, Presly.

"Quite impressive that you were able to get out here so fast, especially with the situation back home." Presly remarked after they shook hands.

The ambassador, who had introduced himself as Udvek, chuckled, his voice distorted by his mask's filter. "Yes, I am impressed myself. The _Aracadia_ lacks the speed of her newer brethren. Luckily, the orbital docks escaped severe damage, and the AGF is trying to figure out how to relocate them. Last that I heard, the Third Fleet had been called off and the Fourth took the place of the Second at Arcturus. The place is swarming with ships now."

"Sounds like Mother Gaia wants to ensure that her children stay on their toes." Hackett remarked.

"Indeed. However, I did not come out here as a mere courier. Where is this asari captain I have been hearing so much about?"

"She is being ferried over from one of our cruisers. Given your arrival, I decided we may as well roll out the carpet for her, since it has already been unrolled for you."

"An excellent decision, Admiral," Udvek congratulated, taking his place to the Admiral's left. The ambassador's tabard swayed slightly as he moved, revealing the heavy armor plating underneath.

"I think it unlikely that the asari had capable of launching an assassination attempt, Ambassador." Presly commented with obvious amusement.

"Standard protocol, I'm afraid. I just wish I had time to bring a sash to hold this blasted thing in place." The diplomat muttered, vainly attempting to straighten the intricately woven tabard.

"We might have some spare rope lying around." Presly quipped. "Could add some humility to the outfit."

"I can see why you keep him around, Admiral. It is not often a dreadnought is graced with a comedian." Udvek shot back snarkily.

Hackett suppressed a smile. "Enough. Our guests are arriving."

True to Hackett's words, the shuttle from the _Dauntless_ was fast approaching the hangar's field.

"Ready for history, gentlemen?"


	4. First Codex

**A/N: Two apologies for you fine folk. First, I am sorry I haven't updated in awhile. Life kicked me in the arse and tried to bury me. Second, I apologize for this post not being a continuation of the story, and instead being a codex. BTW, there really is no order to this codex. I really didn't want to go and organize this alphabetically or something. Sorry! (guess that makes three…)**

 **Humans**

 **Cloning** : Human reliance on cloning was a result of plunging birthrates after extensive genetic tailoring of the human body. Given the time constraints, little experimentation and quality control was conducted with many of the tests. While still capable of natural births, very few women are capable of carrying more than one or two children to term. Humans are, understandably, extremely protective of both the children and the women capable of giving birth. The issue of humanity's near-sterility is a sensitive topic and one that is kept extremely secret, for fear of the abduction or killing of the few children or women of child-bearing capability..

 **Mind Transference:** Developed by a brilliant and eccentric scientist, the process of mind transference is a complicated and secret endeavor. The cloning process produces what are essentially brain dead specimens. Mind Transference allows the experiences, training, and beliefs of a person to be imprinted on the mind of a clone, allowing to become 'alive'. There is, however, an interesting side effect to this. Each time that a Mind is uploaded, the current clone tends to develop a slightly different personality each time. The same exact Mind uploaded to two different clones could result in drastically different personalities. This occasionally leads to schizophrenia as some people have trouble differentiating between their personality and the personalities of their previous lives.

 **Dreadnoughts:** The mighty hammer of the human fleets, the Dreadnought typically measures over one kilometer, and is armed with a minimum of five three-gun batteries. Each gun uses the ship's Eezo core to lighten the shot, and the cold fusion reactor to power it. This allows for each shot to hit up to one hundred kilotons of force, but at a greatly reduced fire rate. With the smaller Eezo cores, the Dreadnoughts tend to have weaker shields than their alien counterparts, but they make up for it with much thicker and stronger hull armor. However, human ships generally end up in drydocks for repairs more often, due to to the damage sustained when shots make it past the shields and strike the hull. Given the smaller size of the Element Zero core, a human Dreadnought is fairly unmaneuverable, relying on being in the right place and simply making minor adjustments to their firing arcs throughout the battle. Though armed with secondary gun batteries, if a dreadnought has to rely on them, the battle has gone very wrong. Much of the ship's systems are automated, due to the low population of humanity.

 **Cruisers:** The mainstay of a human fleet, cruisers comprise the largest portion of the space navy. Armed with fewer guns, the cruisers generally focus on anti-fighter capabilities, coordinating ships, or escorting destroyers. Human space doctrine relies heavily on the versatility of the cruisers to fill in any of the needed roles. They are generally considered to be analogous to either the frigates or cruisers of the other Citadel races.

 **Destroyers:** Generally considered to be analogous to the frigate, the destroyer employs interesting technology and tactics. Designed to be extremely fast and maneuverable, the destroyer is more reliant on element zero than any other ship type in the human navy. The main armament is the disruptor torpedo. Launched at close ranges, the destroyer relies on maneuverability and their ECM fields to get in close. Although they carry several main gun batteries capable of firing faster than most cruisers and dreadnoughts, most commanders refrain from using them as the firing trajectory can be traced, allowing a lucky shot to pierce their ECM. Destroyers are considered analogous to frigates, but their tactical use is far different. The most effective counter to the destroyer are fighters, as the point defense systems are virtually nonexistent on a destroyer.

 **Carriers:** A uniquely human innovation, the carrier is designed to build, launch, and repair drone fighters. Due to the low population, human commanders were unwilling to risk the high-attrition rates amongst fighter pilots. Opting for a more disposable route, carriers were designed to build drone fighters. The drones are designed quite simply. A small armored shell surrounds a power core, allowing for a versatile weapons array. Generally armed with either a limited mass accelerator, a primitive GARDIAN system for mobile point-defense, or a small array of torpedoes, the drone fighter is fast, maneuverable, hard-to-hit, and most importantly, extremely cheap. Designed to be deployed and salvaged, the drones came to be known as Rocks.

 **Aeterna Glacies Foedus** : Also known as the AGF, or the League of Eternal Ice. The League is the major organization that formally leads and represents the human race. Although the city-states that developed during the Twilight Years and the Long Night ostensibly maintain their independence, they have little authority outside of their own cities. The League is divided into the legislature, known as the Conclave, the executive branch, known as the High Command, and the judicial branch, known as the Atrium Glacies (trans. "Court of Ice").

 **Conclave:** The Conclave members are elected for a term of four years, with a two term limit. Unicameral, the Conclave is divided into parties known as Lodges. Whichever Lodge holds the majority elects a member to formally represent the interests of the people in the High Command. The Conclave approves the promotion of any member of the military to the High Command, and can remove any member of the High Command with a two-thirds majority. There are currently three major Lodges, with a number of smaller Lodges. The smaller Lodges hold power because they are often needed in order for one of the major Lodges to gain a majority. The three major Lodges are the Traditionalists, the Purists, and the Geneticists.

 **High Command:** Comprised of the leaders of the military as well as the appointed representative of the Conclave, known as the Grand Lodgemaster, the High Command decides where to deploy and how to manage the resources allocated to them by the Conclave. In times of emergency, the High Command can overrule the Conclave and take control, but a three-quarters majority of the Conclave can vote to end the state of emergency if the High Command does not. The High Command is comprised of the Grand Admiral (head of Navy), the Grand Marshal (head of the Army), the Grand Quartermaster (head of Logistics), the Grand Engineer (head of Construction), and the Grand Scientist (head of Research and Development).

 **Atrium Glacies:** The court system is controlled by the Stern Judges, of which there are thirteen. The Stern Judges are appointed by the High Command and confirmed by the Conclave. The Stern Judges serve for life and are responsible for setting up courts and appointing judges to oversee them. They are also responsible for deciding whether the laws passed by the Conclave are in the best interests of humanity. If the Conclave is deadlocked on ending a state of emergency called by the High Command, the Stern Judges can intervene, but only if there is a unanimous decision.

 **Traditionalist Lodge:** This major party is mostly concerned with maintaining the independence of the various city-states and preventing the AGF from gaining too much power. Generally isolationist, they are the most neutral of the major Lodges, usually brokering peace deals and compromises between the Geneticists and the Purists. Greatly concerned with preserving the knowledge of the past. Smallest of the three Lodges.

 **Purist Lodge:** Main policy goal is finding an Earth-like world and returning humanity to its 'pure' and unmodified form. The most extreme of the three Lodges, they are often supported by even more hardline minor Lodges in the Conclave. Constantly at odds with the Geneticist Lodge. Several fights have broken out between the Geneticists and the Purists. While more powerful than the Traditionalists, they have been gaining power after contact with the Citadel races, as many wish to be able to interact with them on an equal level.

 **Geneticist Lodge:** With their main policy goal the preservation and continuation of the human race, the Geneticist Lodge is the most powerful and oldest of the Lodges in the Conclave. Supportive of a genetic modification program, the Lodge holds a lot of goodwill for pushing through many policies that made life easier on a cold planet. Mistrustful of aliens, due to their dedication to the goal of preserving human life, the Lodge has been losing support slowly in the wake of First Contact with the Citadel.

 **Religions:** While many of Earth's old religions have survived in some form or another, the development of cloning and mind transference has caused serious revisions in the belief of a soul. Some more radical sects believe that cloning is immoral and that Mind Transference is downright heretical. The majority has come to believe that the mind is the host of the soul, not the body as a whole. The quirks of cloning and Mind Transference have lent credence to some of this theory, as a clone cannot live without a Mind being uploaded. However, there is a great deal of debate over how Mind can develop a new personality, despite the presence of all the past memories. This debate has led to a great deal of tension between some of the major religious factions.

 **The Twilight Years:** A period of time stretching from 0 SD to 215 SD (Sol's Death), this period was characterized by the extensive digging of underground cities and the accelerated development of the genetic engineering programs. Also a period of a great decline in the human population, due to starvation, suicide, and rampant crime, riots, and general anarchy amongst regions that lacked the governmental power to dig the underground cities.

 **The Long Night:** Extended from 216 SD until 275 SD, the year in which humanity entered the Utopia system, leaving the confines of Earth behind. Nicknamed for the extreme conditions that forced humanity underground, it was also noted that the rotation of the Earth was slowed down by unknown forces and the Earth ended up at a more extreme angle. This baffled scientists, who had no idea where the massive amounts of energy required came from. The situation was immediately classified and made known only to the High Command and a few select groups, who continued to study the phenomenon. It was this discovery that convinced many in the High Command that there may be a hostile alien presence.

 **Eden Prime:** The first extrasolar colony belonging to humanity, Eden Prime was characterized by its warm (to humans) temperature and the presence of an actual ecosystem. Much of the ecosystem was carnivorous, with the herbivores mainly limited to algae that grew around geothermal vents and volcanic rifts. The extreme danger that the carnivorous animals presented, initially limited colonization to heavily fortified mountain castles. However, several enterprising ex-soldiers and hunters acquired the rights to a few of the mountain castles and formed the first of the Hunting Halls. This sparked a great deal of tourism, as well as the interest of a few corporations that sought to cater to this new breed of tourist.

 **Hunting Halls:** A phenomenon unique to Eden Prime, the Hunting Halls are massive, looming fortresses carved out of the mountains. Originally designed as bases of operations for the mining corporations, many of them were converted to the purpose of hunting the dangerous wildlife. Each Hall controls a segment of territory. In order to freely hunt, a visitor must become a member of the Hall by completing a challenge given to them by a member of the Hall. Each Hall has its own traditions, ranks, and stories. With the wide variety of dangerous life on Eden Prime, each of the seven Halls has a unique prey, oftentimes only located within their Hall's hunting range.

 **Infantry:** Humanity tends to stand out as a superb naval power. However, their infantry, while powerful, tend to rely on fire support and long distance engagement. Generally equipped with long-range rifles, humans tend to prefer skirmishing roles for the infantry, with outstanding marksmen and stealthy spotters. It is mandatory for the soldiers to undergo more extensive modifications, such as improved environmental resistance, better eyesight, and other similar advancements. The infantry branch is split into several different specializations.

 **Rangers:** The rangers are the survivalists of the army. Able to survive in extreme conditions, the role of the Rangers is to harass and call down orbital or ground-based artillery fire on enemy formations.

 **Revenants:** The sniper-specialist corps, the Revenants, often just termed 'Ghosts' generally move in support of the Rangers. However, they are often much closer to the frontlines, where they can fall back to gain the support of the mainline human infantry.

 **Crypt Guards:** The elite of the human army, the Crypt Guards deviate from the usual skirmisher doctrine of the human army. Heavily armored and armed with much shorter ranged, rapid fire weapons, the Crypt Guard are the modern equivalent of the Triarii. If the fight reaches the Crypt Guard, then defeat is likely imminent. Adopting a fatalistic view, the Crypt Guard are the only units that carry a banner into battle, daring the enemy to bombard them. A white tree on a black field, with a man hanging from a noose, the banner brings fear to both their foes and allies.

 **Armored Units:** Human armor doctrine relies on heavily armored tanks that can quickly fortify a position and hold it until orbital supremacy is achieved. Generally large and cumbersome, the tanks fielded by the human army are designed to be able to plow a path through heavy snow and similarly rough terrain.

 **Artillery:** Similar to the infantry, ground-based artillery is designed to be fast moving, easy to hide, and be able to harass the advance of any enemy units, withdrawing before the enemy can counterattack or bring their own artillery to bear. Some of the fortresses are equipped with large bore guns, designed to target any ships attempting to provide close range, precision fire-support.


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: The story goes on! The science involving biology and element zero might be a bit off, but I claim the defensive shield of Sci-fi, and the fact that element zero is, so far, not real. Also, I would like to remind you that I changed the timeline so that it starts out with just the asari and salarians fighting in the Rachni War. Thanks for reading, and be sure to point out any mistakes/provide suggestions for the story in the review section!**

 **Eden Prime, Hall of Valor**

The Hall of Valor was one of the oldest hunting halls on Eden Prime. The splendor of the Feast Hall, adorned with trophies and banners, stood as a testament to the skill and prowess of its hunters.

Most of the mining companies had long since abandoned the surface of Eden Prime, instead preferring the less risky asteroid fields. While you may have to deal the hazards of zero-gee mining, at least you didn't need to cover insurance for being "eaten by large monster". And it made hiring employees much easier when the media wasn't reporting the latest fatality.

With Eden Prime lacking in abundant plant life, most of the ecosystem dedicated itself to a rather carnivorous diet. This led to some rather dangerous prey for the newly arrived humans. The duty of documenting and observing the creatures of Eden Prime fell to each Hall's resident Beastmaster. The Hall of Valor's Beastmaster was currently examining the latest creature to be dragged in.

"Well, this is a rather interesting specimen." The Beastmaster, Drebon Monfic, poked a figure into the rather large hole in the creature's chest. His synth-leather glove began to smoke after coming in contact with the corpse's blood. Drebon raised an eyebrow at this.

"That's what you said about the last one." The maker of the large hole, a figure known simply as Smoke, commented.

"The last one was not twelve feet tall, covered in scales, and with acid for blood." Drebon responded rather brusquely.

"So, what are you thinking, Beastmaster? New species?" Smoke asked eagerly, lighting up his pipe, his black eyes glittering in the reflected light.

"Most likely. It is also possible that this is simply a more mature specimen of something else. Could be investigating why so many of its young have gone missing in the past few years." Drebon sighed, straightening up and pulling out his record book.

"Dissecting this thing is gonna be a pain, if that blood really is acidic. Go see the Archivist and let him know. It's at least a record for largest kill."

With a whoop, Smoke took off for the Archivist's quarters, the exhaust of his pipe trailing behind him.

With another long-suffering sigh, Drebon pulled out his own pipe, packing it down with coldweed before lighting it up. Taking a long drag on it, he expelled the warm smoke.

 _At least with cloning I don't have to worry about the effects of smoking,_ he thought wryly, scratching his graying hair.

 _Now how the hell am I supposed to get this thing to my lab?_

 **Labs Underneath the Hall of Valor, Eden Prime**

After accosting several passing hunters with the promise of whiskey, Drebon finally managed to get the creature down to his lab with much difficulty, swearing, and copious amounts of alcohol.

"Couldn't you just have your lab upstairs? This bastard has to weigh at least half a ton!" One of the hunters questioned, breathing hard as they finally dropped the corpse on the examining table. The table in question groaned ominously under the weight.

"The Chief claimed he didn't want to deal with the smell of dead things stinking up the Hall." Drebon responded, laying out his instruments on the table.

The three hunters sat around curiously, bottles of alcohol in hand, as Drebon began cutting into the scales on the creature's chest.

"You know, it wouldn't be such a problem if the Chief invested in some decent elevators. Them miners stripped out just about anything usable." The first hunter, who Drebon vaguely recalled as being known as Vares, commented.

The second hunter, Flem, a longtime resident of the Hall, chimed in. "Chief says that technology makes ya lazy. Gotta run up them stairs, or, in our case, haul a half-ton monster down 'em."

After blunting two scalpels, Drebon finally managed to pry a scale loose. A bluish glint as he held the scale up to the light caught his eye.

"Flem," he said calmly, "what happens when Element Zero is exposed to a negative electrical current?"

The older hunter hesitated for a moment, confused. "The mass decreases?"

"Precisely." Drebon replied, clamping an electrical cord to the creature's arm and flipping a switch.

The corpse of the creature lifted off the table slightly as the eezo in its body reacted to the electrical current coursing through it.

"Fuck me! You mean we coulda floated the fat bastard all the way down?" Vares exclaimed in shock.

Drebon puffed a circle of smoke out. "Would have needed a long-ass extension cord, but, essentially, yes."

"So this...thing has access to some kind of eezo deposit and has evolved with eezo in its body?" This came from Rex, who had up till then been quietly and efficiently draining his bottle.

The cloud of smoke shrouded Drebon's head. "Yup."

"The Chief needs to know that those miner boys missed a fortune out there." Flem jumped down from his perch on the counter.

"Chief is gonna have bigger problems." Drebon's words stopped all three from rushing out the door.

"What do you mean?"

"We've been on this planet since 275, and yet this is the first time that we have found eezo planetside _and_ the first time we have encountered this species. Thus, it is likely that these creatures have evolved to live at least _some_ of their lives underground."

"Yeah, so? We haven't exactly been hunting down below. It ain't that surprising that we haven't found everything yet." This came from Vares, sounding unsure about the direction Drebon was going with the conversation.

"Eden Prime does not possess much of a natural tunnel system. Look at its claws," Drebon held up a clawed hand. The tips were heavily scored and worn down, as if they were dragged along something hard. "These creatures can tunnel."

All three of the hunters blanched with fear. The delvings of the hunting Halls grew deeper with each passing day. A horde of these monsters could carve through the skeletal excavation crews. Worse, it would be like a highway straight into the very heart of the Hall. The nursery.

As one, all three hunters turned around and ran from the room.

Drebon turned back to regard the corpse. He had a feeling that the Chief would be paying him a visit soon.

 **Unidentified System, shuttle enroute to AGF** _ **Formidable**_

To say that T'lenna was nervous would be a significant understatement. She was about to represent the asari in their third contact with an alien species, and only the second peaceful (so far) one.

To top it off, this particular species had managed to thoroughly trash an entire rachni fleet without taking significant losses or even damage. Granted, the rachni were caught by surprise and out of position, but it was still an impressive feat.

Her escort of human marines and surviving asari crew had a mutual staring contest behind their faceplates as the shuttle carried them across the void.

A slight _thump_ and a bit of a jolt was the only warning T'lenna had that their journey had ended. The door at the rear of the cramped shuttle hissed as it slowly lowered, forming a ramp that led down to the deck.

T'lenna cautiously led the way down the ramp. The sight that greeted her was an impressive one.

Three ranks of soldiers lined either side of a carpet that led to three humans, awaiting her. As soon as she stepped off the shuttle's ramp, the soldiers snapped to attention presenting their rifles and shouting something in their language, distorted by their helmets, giving it a menacing sound.

T'lenna tried to banish her nervousness as she walked down the aisle of soldiers. _This is the first time that they have met asari,_ she reminded herself, _they might see weakness in fear._

Most diplomats had at least a slight inkling of the motivations that the opposing party held. T'lenna was no diplomat, and she doubted even the best matriarch could determine what these humans wanted.

"So… what do you think these asari are going to want?" Hackett asked the ambassador.

"Who knows? We know what this particular asari captain wants, but what does the species want? We know that they are fighting a war with an insectoid species, if what we recovered is any indication. Drawing from the misty depths of science fiction, that would indicate that the asari are the good 'guys', as it were."

Presly coughed rather suspiciously, shuffling his feet.

"Got something to add, XO?" Hackett asked a little too smoothly.

"Ah, didn't realize the source of our military intelligence was from some dime novels, sir."

"Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms, Mr. Presly," the ambassador shot back.

Suddenly, Hackett had to stifle his own coughing just as the asari came into earshot of the welcoming party.

T'lenna observed the three humans waiting to greet her. The one in the middle seemed to be in the middle of a coughing fit, while the one on his right was shuffling his feet awkwardly. Both of those were in the standard uniform and suit with helmets that she had seen all of them wear, but the third member of the group was drastically different.

Dressed in flowing robes, the human had foregone the face-obscuring helmet that seemed standard amongst the others. The human bore a remarkable similarity to an asari, except for the nearly pure white skin and the presence of fur on the scalp.

"Greetings, Captain T'lenna of the Asari Republics, I am Ambassador Udvek, representing the government of the Aeterna Glacies Foedus. It is my honor to introduce Admiral Steven Hackett, Commander of the First Fleet and his Executive Officer, John Presly." The robed human executed a graceful bow after introducing his companions.

"I extend the greetings of the Asari Republics and hope that we can establish a long-lasting friendship amongst the stars." T'lenna responded hesitantly, unsure of the protocol to follow here.

Luckily, the human ambassador picked up on the awkwardness of her movements and speech and moved quickly to cover it.

"It is quite reassuring to hear of your peaceful intentions after the rather violent encounter with those… other ships." The human paused, glancing at the one that he introduced as Hackett. "Perhaps we should retire to more comfortable rooms in order to discuss the situation at length."

T'lenna nodded her assent to the proposition and followed Udvek as an escort of marines fell in ahead and behind their party.

She hoped nothing would go terribly wrong.

 **Hall of Valor, Eden Prime**

The Chieftain of the Hall was a large man. Standing at six and a half feet, the man was an intimidating sight with his heavy fur cloak lending an even greater feeling of _mass_ behind his already large frame.

The Chieftain had ruled this Hall for so long that most of the people didn't even remember his name. He was forever known as "The Chief".

Drebon looked up from his work as the Chief entered his lab room. Already garbed for battle, the ruler of the Hall of Valor carried a large machine gun across his back with a battleaxe hanging from his hip.

"What's this crap about some tunneling beast that Vares and Flem are babbling about?"

Drebon gestured towards the corpse with his pipe. "Best I can figure, that critter has access to some element zero and has incorporated it into its body. I figure we should stop tunneling and start fortifying the lower levels until we find their nest.

"Who shot it?"

"Smoke. He went to the Archivist to record it, so you can likely find where he nailed it from him."

"Bloody hell. I better alert the other Halls that there might be something underneath us. Can you tell if its intelligent?"

"Don't think so. Brain is a decent size, but not very well developed. I'd say its cunning, but its not about to start asking about the meaning of life."

"So it ain't a First Contact?"

"Heh. Not likely."

The Chief smiled. "Good! I would hate for the bureaucrats to get involved. Keep me posted."

With that, the Chief turned around and walked out.

"Coulda just used the damn intercom." Drebon muttered, turning back to his work.

 **Deep Below the Hall of Valor, Eden Prime**

"Did ya hear something?" The sentry asked his partner.

"Hear what? Probably just a rat."

"No, it sounded like scratching."

"Turn on the spotlight then."

The entrance to one of the recently unearthed natural caverns lit up as the sentries turned on their spotlight.

The cavern was so large that the light barely penetrated a hundred meters into the gloom. A large figure seemed to coalesce and disappear in the gloom. The first sentry spotted it.

"There! See, something moved. I swear it did!"

"Keep your pants on, Niv. Your eyes are playing tricks on ya." His skeptical partner said.

Both sentries froze in the middle of their bickering as a loud roar pierced the darkness. Their eyes locked, and each saw the doubt in the others eyes.

"That was no damn rat," the first sentry said.

"Better call it in." The second said grimly.

As he reached for the radio, a massive boulder came sailing out of the gloom and smashed into the spotlight, shattering the light.

"Son of a bitch! Niv, run for it! Get to the CP!"

Without arguing, Niv took off as his partner opened up with his gun, the flashes briefly illuminating their small corner of the darkness.

More roars rose up to answer the chattering storm of mass-accelerated rounds.

 **Command Post #1 Hall of Valor, Eden Prime**

"Observation Post Four, call in." The radio operator for the CP spoke into his receiver.

Static was his only answer, the same as his previous two attempts.

"Hey Mikkel! OP Four hasn't checked in."

"Technical difficulties?" The CP commander asked as he walked over to the radio station.

"Nah, unless it's on their end. They checked in fine a half hour ago."

"That's weird. I'll send-" whatever the commander was about to say was cut off as a hunter burst into the room.

"Mikkel, Niv just came in, says they got attacked by something. Mares is dead, got killed holding the beasts off so Niv could get back."

"Why didn't they call it in?"

"Said they chucked some boulders, crushed their spotlight and the radio." The hunter panted.

Mikkel turned back to the radio operator. "Call the Chief, let him know the Hall is under attack by something, probably that creature Smoke killed. Get the squad on the barricades, ready for an attack."

Though not a professional military, many of the hunters in the Halls had at least rudimentary training, or the memories of a former soldier floating around.

Mikkel just hoped it would be enough to hold off the horde of whatever was coming.

All along the line, rifles were gripped tightly, eyes scanning the narrow tunnel ahead for the demons of the dark.

"Easy lads, they have to come at us here. This is the chokepoint for the entire lower tunnels. We'll bugger 'em good and proper. This is our home, and they are the prey!" Mikkel called out over the squad com-net.

After several minutes of tense waiting, they all heard the distant roar of the creature. Niv flinched, remembering what happened after. He hoped Mares died quickly. No one deserved to die alone in the dark.

"Steady lads. They're just trying to get up their nerve."

At first, Mikkel thought his eyes were deceiving him. It looked like the darkness was growing, getting closer to them. But when a boulder came spinning out of it, he knew that something was wrong.

"Open fire! They have some kind of cloaking field!" He screamed, as the boulders smashed into the sloped barricade, denting the reinforced steel.

"Spotlights on! Illumination grenades downrange!" Mikkel barked out orders as the boulders continued to rain down upon the half-dozen hunters.

The beasts roared as the powerful spotlights turned on, illuminating indistinct forms in the foggy darkness.

As they finally had targets, the hunters opened up even more, focusing their fire on the closer targets.

The illumination grenades went off with a muffled bang as the roars of the beasts changed to screams of pain.

"They bleed like everything else! Keep up the fire!"

Gradually, the strange darkness that absorbed the light faded away, leaving a half dozen corpses in the tunnel. After a moment, the defenders ceased their fire.

Mikkel stared at the bodies for a moment. "We better call the Chief. These bastards ain't normal."


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: I'd like to thank hornet07 for pointing out that I wrote the creatures on Eden Prime as being 12 meters (~40 feet) instead of 12 feet. I have corrected that slight (big) error. Sorry for the lateness of this one, life has it out for me. Also, the doc manager keeps eating my formatting. I shall endeavor to make a larger update in future.**

 **Council Chambers, Citadel. Widow Nebula**

"So you are saying that there is a newly opened relay in the vicinity of where our fleet went missing?" The asari councillor, Mera, asked calmly.

A bit too calmly in Councillor Tellan's opinion, considering the possible ramifications. "Yes. Possibilities disturbing. Could be new rachni expansion. Also possible that they encountered new species. They may be hostile."

"It is all speculation at this point. We have no indication as to who or what is involved. It may be a simple mechanical malfunction."

Tellan sighed melodramatically. This asari was quite impressive for her ability to deceive herself. "A malfunction that wipes out more than eighty percent of the fleet and then knocks out the communication arrays of the survivors would require us to significantly overhaul all of our ships. _That_ is something we can ill afford in this war."

Mera opened her mouth to respond but Tellan cut her off angrily. "Hiding from the facts will do us no good! The Sixth Fleet is gone and we need to do something about it!"

The outburst was quite unusual for the normally taciturn salarian. Tellan looked down, slightly ashamed. "Forgive me, these past months have been particularly trying."

Mera graciously inclined her head, accepting the apology. The newly formed Citadel Council was in desperate straits as the rachni continued their advance into Citadel space. Space combat was new to all of the combatants. Unfortunately, the rachni were adapting faster than their opponents.

"Rushing off another fleet simply to comb through the wreckage would be counter-productive. We need all our ships patrolling the borders. We cannot allow another breakthrough like the one at Heva."

Before Tellan could open his mouth to respond, an alert from his omni-tool pinged. Opening the message, it would be a considerable understatement to say that he was shocked.

Apparently, the frigate that he had sent out to find the whereabouts of the asari fleet had discovered an active relay. As they were about to leave to report their findings, a massive fleet of ships had passed through. Upon detection of the scout, they had hailed the salarians in the main asari dialect. The captain of the salarian vessel had wisely decided that the situation was above his paygrade and passed it on to the STG, who promptly forwarded it to Tellan.

Rather than explain the situation to his fellow councilor, Tellan simply forwarded the message. Her gasp was all he needed to hear to know that she likely realized the potential of a friendly race.

"Aren't you glad that we salarians did not simply ignore the situation?" he asked rather snidely.

Mera was at a loss for words.

 _Probably a first for her,_ Tellan thought, uncharitably.

 **Conclave Chamber, Earth**

"The discovery of a foreign people is the greatest event in human history! We must capitalize on this opportunity!"

Donnel Udina sighed as the debates continued to rage on. The latest speaker was from a small Lodge that originally formed to push miners' rights.

Udina looked over to where the lodgemaster for the Traditionalists sat. Michael Dervan was an unassuming man. Dressed in the flowing robes and tabard of a high-ranking government official, a person unfamiliar with the workings of the Conclave might think that he was simply another lodge member.

The truth of the matter, however, was that Dervan was the kingmaker of the assembly. The Traditionalists were the only neutral lodge in the Conclave. Their placement made them suited to striking deals between the Geneticists and the Purists.

Udina leaned over to his fellow representative from the Rome Polis. "Any word on our official stance regarding this latest...incident?"

"None. Dervan is playing his cards close to his chest." Jon Gateson, a powerful member in the assembly because of his ties to the major shipbuilding companies, murmured back as the speaker continued to rant about the need to make a good impression on humanity's newest neighbors.

"That will cost us dearly. If we don't stake out a position early, it will look like we are siding with one faction over another."

"And if we don't, both sides will seek to woo us over to their viewpoint."

"A delicate balancing act." Udina conceded.

"Can you think of someone more capable than Dervan?"

 _Me,_ Udina thought to himself.

Below, the speaker conceded the floor to the Grand Lodgemaster.

"Fellow humans, the purpose of today's meeting is to determine the official course of government in dealing with these newly discovered aliens. We have heard words from both sides of the matter, those advocating isolation until a victor is determined in their war, and those advocating siding with the species that was willing to initiate dialogue. It is the duty of this august body to decide the wisest course of action. We will adjourn for several hours before voting."

 **Several hours later**

The Traditionalist Lodge, after resisting the lobbying attempts of the Purists and the Geneticists, cast the deciding votes in favor of initiating contact with the Council. The subsequent orders to initiate contact were passed on to Admiral Hackett, who had just concluded his own meeting with Captain T'lenna.

"Well Udina, faith in our leader restored?" Gateson asked, jokingly.

Udina smiled, but it never reached his eyes. "Tell me, Gateson, what is the funding like for Armak Manufacturing?"

The pained look on Gateson's face was all Udina needed for an opening. _Even kings topple_ , he thought to himself.

 **First Fleet of AGF, Located just beyond newly discovered relay**

"Sir, new contact on the LIDAR. Frigate class."

"Bring us about. Broadsides up. Dispatch _Irish Rains_ and _Ocean's Sorrows_ to close with the vessel, make sure their fields are up and maintain distance max torpedo range. Comms, try and open a channel."

The fleet slowly lumbered into position, the dreadnoughts positioning themselves at the center, their attendant vessels swarming around them, forming into wolf packs and opening the firing lanes for the big guns.

"Contact is responding to our hails. Handshake protocols are different from asari and rachni, sir."

"Probably those other buggers." Presly murmured, just loud enough for Hackett to hear.

Hackett glanced over at his XO. "Developing a case of xenophobia, Presly?"

"Professional distrust, Admiral. The briefs that the ambassador passed out to senior staff indicates that these b-salarians are mostly spooks."

"Noted."

Following a burst of static, the translated voice of the salarian captain came in over the _Formidable's_ speakers.

"This is the a Salarian Union Frigate, on business for the Citadel Council. Identify yourselves and state your business." The captain's voice was different from asari and humans. It was much faster, the words coming in a staccato beat.

"I am Admiral Hackett, commanding the First Fleet of the AGF. We are securing our borders following an incident in the adjoining system."

Hackett continued before the salarian could respond. "We have recovered the crew of a stricken asari cruiser, following an engagement with a fleet of rachni vessels."

The salarian paused for a beat, his mind rapidly digesting and processing the surprising information. "Acknowledged. I would like to speak with whoever is in charge of the survivors."

"Captain T'lenna is the highest ranking officer. She is currently aboard my vessel, engaging in talks with an ambassador. I can patch them in momentarily.

"That would be for the best, yes. Thank you."

 **Conference Room aboard the _Formidable_**

T'lenna did not have a particular gift for diplomacy, which was why she was a starship captain and not a diplomat, but she did know when someone was bullshitting her.

Ambassador Udvek was a charming host, but he danced around her questions like Maiden at the clubs. She sensed no real malevolent intent, but rather a reluctance to discuss anything of substance.

T'lenna decided to drop the pretence and cut straight to the heart of the matter.

"Why don't you just tell me what in Athame's name you humans want from us!"

The human ambassador smiled wryly at her bluntness, not at all taken aback.

"Perhaps honesty would be for the best. Currently, the esteemed Conclave," here Udvek paused, letting out a slight chuckle, "are running around like headless chickens. The only thing the various lodges could agree on was that _some_ kind of dialogue had to be established. So they sent me, in order to assure your government that we can be both friendly _and_ dangerous. At some point in the future, we shall receive a courier who will inform me, and the admiral, whether we are to continue with being friendly _or_ dangerous."

The ambassador leaned back, still smiling slightly.

T'lenna processed this information for a few moments before asking a question. "What's a headless chicken?"

At this, Udvek laughed out loud, a deep sound that seemed to originate from his gut.

"A chicken is an animal that we bred for food. When you chop its head off, the beast will flail and flop around for a bit before the body realizes it's dead. An apt comparison for the way many politicians act."

"It would seem that some things carry across species well enough."

This provoked another bout of laughter from the human, but before he could say anything further, the intercom beeped, blinking green.

"Udvek here. What do you need Admiral?"

"We passed through the relay and have made contact with a salarian patrol. They are requesting to speak with Captain T'lenna."

"That was fast." T'lenna remarked, surprised at how fast they had made contact. She hadn't even noticed the transit through the relay.

"Patch them through, Admiral."

There was a momentary pause before a chime indicated that they had been connected to the comms signal between the two ships.

"Captain T'lenna, we request an authentication code, Citadel class." The salarian spoke, wariness evident in his undertones. Unnoticeable to someone unfamiliar with the species, such as a human.

T'lenna rattled off the code sequence indicating that she was not under duress.

The salarian captain's next words were far more relaxed, even slightly friendly.

"The Council will need to be informed of these developments, please standby while we attempt communications."


End file.
